Fort Hood tragedy hits close to home for Aggie

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M offensive lineman Mike Shumard’s parents both work on Fort Hood, so imagine his fear on Thursday after learning via modern technology that a mass shooting had taken place on the base.

“We were in meetings when all of that was going down,” Shumard said. “I got back to my locker and saw that I had 20-something text messages. And I was thinking, ‘What the heck was this all about?’

“Then I started getting real scared, because my parents both work on Fort Hood.”

Shumard said he started frantically calling around to make sure that his folks were OK, but that his “cell phone is a worthless piece of machinery,” and he had trouble getting through to family members and friends.

The text messages had wondered if his parents were OK. Fortunately, Shumard’s parents weren’t at work because they were already preparing to make the trip to Colorado for A&M’s game there last Saturday.

“It wasn’t very far from where either of them work,” Shumard said of the shooting in which 13 were killed.

His father is a government contractor and his mother a school teacher on the base, Shumard said. He and teammate Nick Trice both attended Killeen’s Harker Heights High.

The Aggies wore decals on their helmets honoring the soldiers who serve at Fort Hood during their game at Colorado. Thanks to some hustle by the A&M staff, they were able to receive the decals in time that had logos representing divisions on the base.

Shumard shook his head in disbelief about the tragedy in his hometown.

“It was something that hopefully will never, ever happen again,” he said.

A memorial service will be held today at Fort Hood, which is about 90 miles from Aggieland.